So, here's the thing. I don't think I'm all that different from most of the other moms out there. I don't claim to be a "cool mom," even. No. I'm the mom that fought hard to be their best each day, stopped tallying up the wins and losses because it felt like a wash most days.

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And then?...

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And then I got it in my head that I wanted to write a romance novel. I'd read them since I was 13 and my mom bought me Jude Deveraux's Summerhouse. I read that whole thing (mainly to be a typical angry teenage girl) BUT I fell in love.

 

Like so many of us, that first year of Covid had me feeling like I'd lost so much of myself. I had zero breaks from the people that needed me to survive. No outside help from people who knew what they were doing. Just me in the trenches 24-7 with two small kids.

 

One night I looked at my husband and sheepishly told him about the dream I'd had since I was thirteen and wrote my first draft of my first ever book: I wanted to be an author. I even told him the title - Duke & His Duchess: A High School Love Story. This big, burly, mountain-man looking service tech looked at me and told me to go for it.

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So I did.

 

I spent the next several months writing and rewriting my first romance novel. I got the cover designed. I made nearly every mistake in the book! writing that one. (Enough so that it's been pulled for revision because that baby needs some love.) I published her in April 2022. 

 

As soon as I saw my words in book form, I was HOOKED! It was like this cork in my brain popped and suddenly I had ideas for an entire series. A hockey romance series. I knew the characters. I knew their backstories. I knew it ALL! And so I reached out to some social media friends and asked them to Alpha Read for me--one lesson I learned is that Alpha Readers are NOT the same as Beta Readers. But that's a post for another day.

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I spent the summer of 2022 writing Called Up, Book 1 in the Dropped Puck Series. It was the most incredible experience I've ever had outside of my core-4 family. It humbled and excited me every day. Hank & Bitsy made their debut in August 2022 and from there it's been a roller-coaster of a situation.

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I spent the next 18 months writing that series, and it’s now finished! The plan I created when I started went to shit, to be totally honest, and that was one of the best things that could have happened to me. I needed the changes that happened along the way. I hate to say this, but losing my stepdad and my husband's grandmother within 12 hours of each other over the summer of 2023 also was a blessing in disguise. I had been in grind mode, struggling to find the joy in writing when our families lost them. After that, I made the choice to not open a word doc for the rest of the summer. I focused on my family and kids for 8 weeks. I'd wanted to badly to have all 6 books out by the 1st anniversary, so there was a part of me that felt like a failure. (No point sugar coating it.) But the other part, the part that was drowning in pain and stress and the invisible weight I'd put on myself? That part knew I needed this break. 

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It was the right call, too.

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See, when I came back to it, when I opened up the first word doc since losing them, the words flowed like they hadn't since Called Up. I fell in love with the process again. I was also determined to become more serious about being an Author. Like with a Capital A. I dove into seminars and workshops. I even learned editing and processing. I learned design and posting to social media. 

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That's me as an author.

Me as a person?

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Well, I turned 38 over the summer, so what's that? Elder millennial? Borderline Gen-X? I don't know.

 

I just know that I was in the group that was told, "If you want to succeed, you need to go to college." So I went. I have a Bachelor's degree from Western Kentucky University in Recreation & Sport Management and a Master's degree from Florida International University in Recreation Administration with an emphasis in Recreational Therapy. I did research on the impact of multi-sensory stimulation rooms on persons with Alzheimer's-Dementia; Youth Sports; recreational activities inclusive to persons with spinal cord injuries, and recreational activities inclusive and rehabilitative for persons with soft-tissue sarcoma. 

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I love using sports and recreation to bring groups together. I was a Youth Sports umpire for years; now I coach my kids' youth sports. 

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I read for fun. Of course I read romance but I love Historical Fiction; Young Adult; Fantasy to an extent--I'm weirdly specific on this one. I love dragons. I like magic. But I don't like.. well I don't like it to be so fantastical it's not believable. No shade but books like the Cruel Prince series was just too fantastical it was 

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I love audiobooks because they help me stay productive. I listen to soundtracks and orchestral music but was never in the school theater program; even if I should have been. I live by the saying "If you can't be an athlete, be an athletic supporter!" I have few things I consider myself *good* at, and even less that I'd dare to say I'm great at; but I will always support and hype others when and where I can.

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I am a hobbyist photographer. An enthusiastic, if not exactly good, cross-stitcher and embroiderer. 

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Jay Shetty, in his book Think Like A Monk, talks about dharma. He says dharma is giving your passion a purpose. My passions are books and making fun accessible to as many people as possible. My dharma would be: reading to my kids' classrooms, working with readers and authors to spread word about books that are out there/helping indie authors with reviews or recs; creating and participating in book clubs, working to make my books available in audiobook format for those with visual limitations and/or learning differences. These aren't big things, huge things, world-changing things. But they are ways I can give purpose to my passions.

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I'm obsessed with Ancient Egypt,  Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome. I love to travel and can't wait until I can take our kids out on those adventures.